Often times it is necessary for a user of a computer program to select certain functions or provide information to a computer application during its execution. User interfaces can accomplish this through a series of textual prompts, or, in the WINDOWS.RTM. programming environment, through the use of dialog boxes. A dialog box typically appears as a result of selecting a menu command that ends with an ellipse (e.g., Open . . . ). The dialog box opened by the menu command can provide additional selections for the user or display additional information. In this way, the dialog box can act as a type of menu extender which provides the user with additional choices. The dialog box can display these additional choices in the form of push buttons, list boxes, drop-down list boxes, check boxes, option buttons, and text boxes. Dialog boxes are child windows which are typically owned by a program's main window and can be either modal or modeless. A modal dialog box requires the user to supply information or cancel the application before allowing the main application to continue. A modeless dialog box allows the user to continue with the main application without closing the dialog box. For example, the user can switch between the modeless dialog box and the window that created it as well as to other programs.
While dialog boxes simplified the presentation of information to a user, often times it was necessary for the user to navigate down a series of cascading dialog boxes to set a value or input information. If the user improperly set a previous value or forgot a key piece of information, it would be necessary to close the series of dialog boxes and begin again. An improvement upon the dialog boxes occurred with the introduction of property sheets. A property sheet (or tabbed dialog box) simplified the display of dialog boxes and typically comprises a frame, title bar and push buttons (e.g., OK, Cancel, Apply, Help). Conventional pages of a property sheet each manages its own control windows (e.g, push buttons, checkboxes and the like) and has a single tab displayed therewith. Thus, each tab is displayed in conjunction with only a single property page such that user selection of the tab can move and display only a single associated page (or dialog box).
While property sheets and their associated property pages have simplified the display of dialog boxes, there continues to be a need in the art for more efficient and flexible processes and apparatuses for displaying dialog boxes. Particularly, there continues to be a need to provide processes and apparatuses accommodating increased flexibility for the display of property pages. Still further, there continues to be a need to provide improved processes and apparatuses for associating a plurality of property pages with a tabbed window, thereby providing simplified user interfaces which are easier to navigate. The present invention incorporates processes and structures which can accommodate the above described benefits.